Speaking out about Asperger's in Williamsburg

Robison delivers positive message on autism to William and Mary students and community

John Elder Robison always knew he was different. But it wasn't until he was 40 that a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome— on the autism spectrum — allowed him to understand his condition. "It's how you are," says the burly 54-year-old. "The knowledge is so liberating."

A high school dropout with successful careers as a sound engineer, owner of a high-end car restoration business and author, Robison told his story to a packed auditorium at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg on Tuesday. The author of "Look Me in the Eye" and "Be Different," the most widely read accounts of any Aspergian, paced the stage for an hour while alternately entertaining and exhorting the audience to "celebrate being different." "The world is opening up for us through awareness," he says. "The world needs us."

The event was sponsored by the college's recently formed neurodiversity working group, whose purpose is to raise awareness of autism-spectrum disorders and ease the challenges for students. "It's important to realize that autism is a spectrum disorder," said the group's catalyst, associate professor Karin Wulf, whose 11-year-old son has autism. She emphasizes that even the highest-functioning, like Robison, face incredible challenges. "You'll see he's working hard. It's like he's learning a different language," she says.

Describing himself as disabled, Robison observed that "the very thing that disabled me made me a star … All the things that crippled me as a little boy, set me free as an adult." Robison is now one of 15 members of the national Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee charged with formulating a strategic plan for the government's response to autism through research, education, accommodation and disability.

His top priority is to work for the remediation of disability for those on the autism spectrum through the development of therapies and treatments. Second to that, he promotes the acceptance of differences as key to improving the lot of those with autism.

Asperger's had not been identified when Robison was growing up in a dysfunctional family in Massachusetts, with a mentally ill mother and an abusive, alcoholic college professor father; his brother, Augusten Burroughs, chronicled their lives in "Running with Scissors." (The professional manual of mental disorders first included Asperger's in 1985.)

Robison's childhood feelings of rejection and social isolation — "you conclude you're defective" — still resonate with him today. His first major breakthrough, he says, came on his 13th birthday, when his parents gave him a computer kit, which he characterized as being more like "an electronic slide rule." Robison became absorbed with electronics, an interest he pursued alongside graduate students at the University of Massachusetts where his father taught. By 16, he combined his knowledge of electronics with his love of music and became a sound engineer for some of the hottest bands of the time, including KISS and Pink Floyd. The musicians, who relied on his talents for amplification and original sound effects, accepted him completely. For the first time he felt included in a social group. "It was a wonderful thing to be embraced in that manner. … No one in the world of musicians ever called me a retard," he says.

From there Robison used his extraordinary talent to land a job at the Milton Bradley company — he explains that though he can't do calculus on paper, he's able to visualize the math and translate it to circuitry and its effect on sound in his head, a talent he likens to those who built the Pyramids and Stonehenge. He taught himself digital electronics and was in the forefront of developing talking toys, such as Speak & Spell, and the top-selling Simon hand-held games. His work with MicroVision, using an exchangeable cartridge, formed the basis for subsequent video games, such as Nintendo and Gameboy.

But still, he told the rapt audience, he felt like a fraud. "I could never perceive I was doing a good job. I felt like I was a cheat, a fraud," he says, attributing it to his then-undiagnosed Asperger's.

He started his own car-restoration business, fixing high-end cars. "I couldn't be smarmy and polite like a manager at a Buick dealership. I catered to a geeky crowd," he says. And that's when a therapist client walked in and told him he could be a poster boy for Asperger's. "It was the most magical and empowering revelation," he recalls, and he set out to make himself "normal." Despite his outward success — a lucrative business, a wife and a child — for several years Robison still felt alone. "Every day I would go home and be by myself — with my family and stuff," he says. "The magic was when I changed my behavior, based on what I knew about Asperger's. People invited me in to their lives; they drew me in to the pack. I didn't go out and catch them."

That's the message he repeats to an anxious boy after the talk. "Let the girls come to you. Don't go out and catch them," he says. When the boy returns minutes later, instructed by his mother to apologize for perceived rudeness, Robison reacts with encouragement: "You weren't rude. Mothers say that sort of thing. You're my favorite Aspergian."

Other advice he hands out to audience members includes researching "geek-friendly" work places and learning how to avoid fights — whether with other people or the educational system. "I'm not one for fighting. I don't want to be where I'm not wanted," he says. He's proud that he avoided fights as a young person, mostly by staying quiet, and he also learned how to stymie bullies. "Make yourself not good to eat," he says. There's a difference, he emphasizes, between learning how not to make enemies and how to make friends. "I learned how not to repel other people."

John Elder Robison

Robison has written two books, "Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's" (2007) and "Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian" (2011). He is working on a third book, "The Best Kid in the Store." Find out more at http://www.johnrobison.com

Autism events

•Colonial Behavioral Health is holding a free autism training and network fest from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday April 20, at the Williamsburg Community Building, 401 N. Boundary St., Williamsburg. Event includes guest speakers and service providers to assist attendees. Lunch provided; for more info, go to http://www.colonialbh.org. Registration required: call 757-253-4074 or email autisminfo@colonialbh.org.

•Lutheran Family Services of Virginia is inviting the public to plant a pinwheel to support children and families as part of a national effort to raise awareness -- and change attitudes -- towards child abuse.

The event will be at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 22, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 807 W. Mercury Blvd., Hampton.

At the same ceremony, Lutheran Family Services will honor children and families affected by autism. The group conducts its ongoing Essential Pieces program at St. Paul; the free educational workshops are for parents of children on the autism spectrum.